iOS 10 is now available, and if you’re like us, you’re champing at the bit to start playing around with all of its fab new features. However, you may want to hold off just a bit, if you haven’t installed it already: Numerous users are reporting that installing iOS 10 over Wi-Fi is bricking their iPhones and iPads, rendering them useless and stuck in Recovery Mode until they are wiped with a factory reset.

Some users can complete the install by connecting their device to iTunes, instead of trying the over-the-air update via Wi-Fi. So far, these reports have only come from people trying to update their devices from iOS 9 or earlier—we haven’t heard of any issues when updating from the iOS 10 beta.

We’ve had mixed results here at Macworld: Caitlin McGarry updated her iPhone 6 via Wi-Fi without a problem, where Roman Loyola’s iPhone 6s Plus crashed during the over-the-air install. He was able to successfully install iOS 10 when he connected his iPhone to iTunes to complete it there.

“We experienced a brief issue with the software update process, affecting a small number of users during the first hour of availability. The problem was quickly resolved and we apologize to those customers. Anyone who was affected should connect to iTunes to complete the update or contact AppleCare for help.”

Why this matters: This isn’t the first time a major iOS version update has caused problems, which is why you should always backup your devices before installing an update. Apple is usually quick to fix these problems, as was the case today. We’ll update this story if more details emerge.

This story, "Watch out: iOS 10 install is reportedly bricking some iPhones" was originally published by
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Leah Yamshon has been a part of the Macworld family since 2011. She started out covering iOS accessories (So. Many. Cases.) and Mac software, then moved on to all things iOS. She now works behind-the-scenes to keep Macworld's calendar full.